An uninhabited town was discovered in the Gobi Desert of Qinghai. It was once home to tens of thousands of people and was known as Little Hong Kong in the northwest.

Mango Travel Diary: On the vast Gobi Desert in Mangya City, Qinghai, I found a huge group of abandoned buildings. The roads were wide and criss-crossed, and the houses were arranged neatly and row upon row. What was strange was that there was no one on the streets. The houses all collapsed and became ruins.

This abandoned building complex is called the Lenghu Petroleum Base Site. It was once a prosperous town called Lenghu Petroleum Town. It is located in Lenghu Town, Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, about 50 kilometers away from the provincial capital Xining. It is more than 900 kilometers away from Delingha, the state capital, and is located at the junction of Qinghai, Xinjiang and Gansu. It is more than 340 kilometers away from the nearest railway station Liuyuan. It is a town that prospered and died because of oil.

Before the last century, this place was still a desolate no-man's land, inaccessible to humans and wild animals. The change occurred on September 13, 1958. When the drill bit of the 1219 drilling team drilled to a certain depth in the "Four Underground Wells", crude oil gushes out. It is said that it continued for three days and three nights. Since then, Cold Lake has become the most popular place in China at that time. One of the four major oil fields in China (the other three are: Yumen, Karamay, and Sichuan), it began its glorious page. At its most glorious time, Lenghu City was established.

With the discovery of oil, more and more oilmen came to Lenghu with their families, forming a super town with a population of 40,000 to 50,000 people, with schools, hospitals, dance halls, Cinemas, hotels, inns, etc., with constant traffic and bright lights, are bustling and bustling. It is called "Little Hong Kong in the Northwest".

With the discovery of Dunhuang oil, Lenghu oil gradually depleted. People who once lived here moved to Dunhuang one after another. Slowly, Lenghu Oil Town became empty. Exposed to the wind, sun, and rain, it fell into disrepair over time. The houses gradually collapsed, and the oil town of Cold Lake was gradually forgotten.

Today's Cold Lake oil town has become a ruins. There is not a complete house, and all the roofs have collapsed. It is said that the beams, doors, door frames, furniture and other wood have been taken away, leaving only A pile of loess and sand was left behind. At the entrance, there is a stone monument that reads "Lenghu Oil Base Site".

Driving along the main road, there are neat dilapidated houses on both sides. Occasionally, you can see slogans specific to that era. When you walk into the house, there is nothing but bricks. When you climb up the wall, you can see the continuous bricks in the distance. In the Qilian Mountains, the top of the mountain is covered with a layer of snow. A gust of wind blows and raises a gust of sand.

Viewed from the air, the roads are straight and the houses are neat and grand in scale. It is vaguely possible to imagine its original prosperity, but now it is deserted and turned into ruins, submerged in history as if forgotten, which is sad and sighing.

Little guide: If you want to reach the Lenghu Oil Town, you can directly navigate to the Lenghu Oil Base Site. It is recommended to take the Qinghai-Gansu Ring Road. The route is: Xining-Qinghai Lake-Chaka Salt Lake-Dachaidan- Dongtai Ji Nai Lake (Shui Yadan, Xitai Ji Nai Lake) - Mars Camp - Mangya Emerald Lake, Aiken Spring - Lenghu Oil Town - Aksai Oil Town (Yangguan, Yumenguan) - Dunhuang - Zhangye Colorful Danxia -Qilian Mountains-Xining, the best season is July when the rapeseed flowers bloom.

If you want to try Lenghu Oil Town, you can stay in Lenghu Town, which is about 20 to 30 kilometers away from the ruins. However, there are relatively few hotels, average accommodation conditions, and relatively high prices, so you must book in advance. Room, otherwise there may be no room if you look for it temporarily.

If you want to take pictures of the starry sky, you can camp at the ruins. On a clear night, you can see the clear Milky Way (the starry sky photo in this article was taken by Mango with his mobile phone in the oil town of Cold Lake). You must form a team and pay attention to safety when camping, after all, the surrounding area is deserted.